The Infinite Corridor
by astropixie
Summary: The Doctor and Martha accidentally visit MIT in 1932 and uncover a plot to destroy the university. But will the Doctor stop this plan? Or make it happen himself?
1. Blown off course again

A/N: This is set some time after "Family of Blood." Plenty of dark, brooding Doctor angst ahead, along with Doctor babble of a pseudo-scientific nature. Enjoy!

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**1. Blown off course again**

"Did you ever want to study abroad, Martha?"

Martha looked up at the Doctor. He was looking at her over the top of his reading glasses, his hair spiked and his hands splayed all over the controls of his time machine.

"I guess I thought about it once or twice," Martha said, walking around the TARDIS console to join him. "Never did it, though. Easier to stay at home. Cheaper, and the schools are better anyway."

"Oh, you humans," the Doctor said, looking fondly at Martha with a smile that made her melt inside. "Cheaper, easier, and better anyway…sounds like the typical excuse to not do something that you really should be doing. Why do you always do the easy and cheap things? Sounds like an infomercial to me."

Martha blinked, tried to decipher the Doctor's rambling train of thought from school to infomercials, then gave up. "So, where're we going next?"

"One of my favorite universities in the universe," the Doctor said, walking around the console pulling levels, flicking switches, and turning dials. "The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, founded in 1861 by a man named William Barton Rogers…nice, smart guy, you'd like him. He created something as prestigious as Cambridge and as psychotic as, erm, Oxford physicists, I suppose. It's a great place."

"I'm sorry," Martha broke in, "but why do you want to visit a school?"

"Well, you have your exams coming up and all," the Doctor said, throwing one last lever. The TARDIS whirred, the central column activated. "Thought it'd be nice to get into the spirit of things."

"Right," Martha said quietly, mostly to herself. She was going to have to return to her old life eventually. It seemed rather distant after all she had been through with the Doctor. Distant and small. But if that was really why the Doctor wanted to visit a school…

"Do you want me to leave soon?" Martha asked bluntly.

"What?" The Doctor looked up at her from across the controls. "No! No, no, no, no, no…why do you ask that?"

Martha shifted uncomfortably. "I just thought—what with visiting MIT and all…"

"Oh, no, I love having you around," the Doctor said, and he seemed sincere about this. Martha met his dark eyes, and for a brief moment, he almost seemed to be begging her for something. Begging her to stay.

"Have you ever had liquid nitrogen ice cream?" the Doctor asked suddenly, breaking her out of her thoughts. "Students there make it. How creative is that? It's brilliant, really. And the pranks! I want to see the Wright flyer on the roof, myself. They just put stuff up there, on top of the big dome. No idea why or how, but I like their style."

"Is that where we're headed, then?" Martha shook her head. "Sorry. Is that when we're headed?"

"When we're headed…ah, I suppose it's necessary to make up phrases to live around me, then," the Doctor said appreciatively. "Yes, that's when we're headed. Two thousand and three, December seventeen, morning of."

Martha blinked. "But—hold on. I'll be nineteen in two thousand three."

The Doctor grinned at her, the green of the TARDIS casting almost psychotic shadows across his face. "Exciting, isn't it?"

"Won't that, I dunno, rip a hole through the fabric of space and time and destroy the Earth or something?" Martha asked.

"Well," the Doctor said, pausing and scratching the back of his head. "I suppose it could, if you met yourself and caused a nasty paradox."

"Isn't that a stupid risk, then?" Martha asked.

"You said you never studied abroad, right?" the Doctor asked as he leaned against the console.

"Well, no—"

"Been to America at all?"

"Just with you in nineteen thirty, I s'pose—"

"Well, all right, then," the Doctor said, springing up and going to the display screen. "There's a nice big puddle called the Atlantic Ocean between you and you. We'll be fine!"

"I don't think we're ever really 'fine,' exactly," Martha corrected him.

The Doctor chose to ignore this comment. "Aha! We've landed," he said, bounding down the ramp and grabbing his long overcoat.

Martha loved how the TARDIS seemed to sigh every time they materialized somewhere, as if it were a wife who knew her husband never learned from previous mistakes. It sighed now as the column in the middle stopped moving, and she followed him to the door, getting her own red coat as she went.

"It's an okay city, Boston," the Doctor said as he opened the door with a creak. "MIT is in a grungier part, but that's all right. I think it's actually named after Cambridge. Hmm. See that nice architecture? Brilliant. I love this place."

Martha blinked as they emerged into the sunlight. Across a small road from them was a huge neo-classical building, complete with columns and lettering with Vs for Us. It was decidedly more impressive than her London-based medical school. The buildings were all grand and tall, and in the middle of them was a small park, green and leafy. Capping the whole scene before them was a dome…and there was nothing on it.

"Doctor?" Martha interrupted his rambling.

"Seems quiet today, for Boston, usually more cars and the like, I think…"

Martha's eyes widened as an old-fashioned car rolled past at a leisurely pace. "Doctor?"

"It is nice and green, though, quite lovely, really…I just love colleges, you'll have to show me yours some time…wish I could show you mine…"

"Doctor!" Martha insisted.

"Hmm? Yes?" the Doctor asked, scratching his ear as he looked down at her.

"Is that the dome you were talking about?" Martha asked.

The Doctor squinted in the sunlight up ahead. "Why, yes it is. Oh, they must have taken the plane down already. I hear the authorities have a special squad set up to remove the pranks. Shall we try to catch it a bit earlier, then? Or maybe we could see the police car instead."

"Doctor, I don't think this is two thousand three," Martha suggested.

Another old car puttered by.

The Doctor sucked in a deep breath. "That was a…Ford Model T or something like it. Make around…oh, nineteen thirty-two."

"Nineteen thirty-two?" Martha asked. "A bit off from two thousand and three. Hey, wait—I could run into myself here!"

"We didn't come anywhere near Boston," the Doctor said dismissively. "And that was nineteen thirty, not nineteen thirty-two."

"Whatever," Martha said, looking around. "So this is still the Great Depression. Why do you keep bringing me here?"

"I don't mean to!" the Doctor said defensively. "It's not always up to me where we go, exactly."

"I forgot, you can't control your ship," Martha said.

"Yeah, there's lots of buildings missing that should be here," the Doctor mused, ignoring that comment. He turned and walked around the TARDIS. "Oh, lovely view, at least!"

Martha joined him at the edge of a grand river. They had appeared close to a long bridge, and an unrecognizable city lay across the wide expanse. It didn't look like a modern city at all; there were one or two high-rises, or something approaching that, but the town looked old-fashioned to Martha's eyes.

The Doctor and Martha watched as a few boats went by in the calm water. Then the Doctor turned to Martha and grinned. "Well, let's just take a look anyway, shall we?"

The Doctor and Martha crossed the street and entered the grounds of the university, looking around at the immensity of it.

"Look, up there," the Doctor said, pointing. Martha looked up. "Buildings dedicated to great minds in science. Newton, Lavoisier, Faraday…isn't that neat?"

"Don't see any women," Martha said after a moment of looking around the tall buildings with names carved into them. She started lifting her feet higher off the ground to avoid the glistening dew of the grass that was soaking into her sneakers.

"Aww…yeah, you're right," the Doctor said. "Kind of funny, really. A tribute to great minds while leaving the greatest ones out. What a pre-enlightened age."

"Did you just say women are smarter?" Martha asked.

"Did I?" the Doctor asked airily. "Well, I s'pose you can figure it out if I did, then."

The two continued walking across the courtyard, the Doctor with his hands in his pockets and Martha still scanning the names on the buildings for women scientists and feeling offended. It was pleasant outside, with a bright sun shining and the air feeling crisp.

They wandered all the way to the end of the green courtyard, up a short set of stairs and into the shade of the columned entrance to the central, domed building. Martha nodded toward the prominent glass doors in the middle of the stone platform.

"Shall we go in?" Martha asked.

"I don't see why not," the Doctor said. "Private university and all. Probably don't expect people who don't belong to just walk up to the front door like this." He pulled on the door handle. "Yep, open. In we go!"

It was much cooler inside. Martha looked around. It was musty, and everything was unfinished. The grandeur of the outside was only hinted at on the inside; the ceiling was tall and nice-looking, but the walls were bare and the floor was covered with stray bits of wood and dust.

"I guess they're not quite finished building yet," Martha said, waving dust away from her face.

"These things take time," the Doctor said. "It's still the Depression, after all. It's a wonder anyone had the money around this time to build all this."

"Time and money…sounds like an infomercial," Martha joked.

The Doctor spun on his heel to stare at her oddly. "Infomercial? Honestly, Martha, I don't know how your mind works sometimes."

Martha shook her head as she fell into step beside the Doctor. They started walking down a long corridor together, alone except for a few crazed-looking souls. Older men in long coats and enormous glasses walked back and forth, across hallways and occasionally passing the two of them furtively.

"Looks like you blend right in," Martha observed. She glared at him. "I don't."

"I'm sorry!" the Doctor said. "Odd, there's no students around. Did we arrive in summer?"

The moment the words left his mouth, a rush of younger-looking people, all men and mostly white, flowed out of doors and down from staircases. Martha attracted quite a few stares and even some whistles. Furious, she pushed the Doctor into an alcove by a door to have a talk with him.

"I'm sick of this, Doctor," she told him, jabbing a finger in his face. "I know it's all part of this time-traveling bit, but—"

"I am really sorry," the Doctor said, gently taking the hand she was pointing at him in his own. "I am, I'm sorry. If it makes you feel better, Rose often had these problems too."

"Oh, your ex-girlfriend," Martha said. "I feel loads better."

The Doctor hung his head and sighed. "I really did want to take you somewhere fun after that month in nineteen thirteen. See some sites, eat some ice cream, hang out with some lunatics your own age, take off."

"Then why are we still here?" Martha asked. "When you know what it's going to be like?"

"Because—" The Doctor broke off, running his other hand through his hair. "Look, you know the TARDIS is alive, right?"

"Yeah, you mentioned that."

"Well, she's usually got a reason for steering me slightly off course," the Doctor said haltingly, as if imparting a great secret.

Martha stared. "I wish I'd had an excuse like that when I was learning to drive."

The Doctor squeezed her hand. "Let's just walk around for a bit. Like I said, it's a pre-enlightened age. Stick close to me, and don't bite too many heads off when they whistle at you. Think of it as a compliment, yeah?"

Martha sighed. "All right—ahh!"

The door by which they were standing swung open suddenly, making Martha jump back and hit her head on the wall.

"Sorry I startled you!" A man in his early thirties stepped out, closing the door behind him. The Doctor emerged from his side of the alcove where the door had hit, holding his nose.

"Sorry about that," the man said. He looked between them. "Are you students?"

"Gah," the Doctor said thickly, shaking his head. "No, I'm Dr. John Smith, visiting professor from Cambridge and this is my associate, Martha Jones." He flashed his psychic paper for a moment before shoving it away. "And who might you be?"

"I'm Dr. Van de Graaff," the man said.

Martha and the Doctor exchanged excited looks. "Dr. Robert J. Van de Graaff?" the Doctor asked. "Inventor of the Van de Graaff generator? Thing that makes your hair stand up? You're making the big one right now, right?"

"That's me," Dr. Van de Graaff said quietly, locking the door behind him.

"You don't sound very excited about that," the Doctor observed.

"Well, it's been a nightmare for the past few weeks," Van de Graaff explained as they pushed through the crowd of students. "We've been moving the big machine to campus, and we're having some problems."

"Well," the Doctor said, grinning at Martha. "Maybe we can help."

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A/N: See you next week for 40-foot-tall generators that make the Doctor's hair stand up even more! Plus angst galore! 


	2. Professor Lee

A/N: Thanks go to my beta, Yssy.

I hate begging for reviews, but this is my first big Doctor Who story, so any feedback would be great. Enjoy!

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**2. Professor Lee **

Martha walked slightly behind the Doctor as he chatted with Dr. Van de Graaff about physics, things that she barely understood and hadn't studied for years, deliberately. She had never liked physics very much, chemistry had held her interest but she had always preferred biology; medical school had been a natural progression. Feeling slightly put-out because she didn't know exactly how the Van de Graaff generator worked, she silently followed the two chattering men down the corridor.

And it was quite a corridor, too, Martha noticed. Before and behind them, it almost dwindled into a vanishing point. The students flooding the halls had gradually thinned by the time the three of them had gotten to the end of the corridor and stepped outside into the sunlight once again.

"Would it be possible to see the generator?" the Doctor asked.

"That's where I'm headed now," Van de Graaff said, not sounding enthused about his work. "It's not officially on display or anything. Anyone can see it right now, but I can take you closer. You seem like a man who knows his current research."

"Well," the Doctor laughed modestly, stopping when he noticed Martha glaring at him. "I try, yes."

"I have a few minutes to spare," Van de Graaff said. "It's by my lab down the street."

"Terrific," the Doctor said. He leaned down a little to whisper to Martha. "Dr. Van de Graaff! Isn't this fun?"

"For a physics nerd like you, maybe," Martha said. Then she smiled. "I guess it is kind of fun, yeah."

They walked up the street past more unfinished buildings until they saw it.

"This one is forty feet tall, right?" the Doctor asked, practically bouncing with excitement.

"Unfortunately, yes," Dr. Van de Graaff said.

There was a crane nearby to assist with construction, and it was easy to see why. Two massive cylinders, each over a metre in diameter, stood side by side in the middle of a new metal framework, a building going up around the generator. One cylinder was topped by a huge metal dome that seemed to stare down at its observers. A truck on the other side of the building held the last dome in the back. It was an awesome site to see.

"Why is it so big?" Martha asked.

"It produces five million volts of electricity," the Doctor said before Van de Graaff could reply. "At the time, making it on this scale was the only thing that could. They wanted to observe the effects of such a huge voltage. Cumbersome, but effective. Right, Doctor?"

"Um…yeah, that's right," the other man said. Martha knew he was probably confused about the Doctor's use of the past tense during his explanation. For a Time Lord, the Doctor wasn't always very sensitive about what he said around people.

The Doctor walked around, deeply impressed with the work he saw. He pulled out his glasses and slid them on when he got close enough to read the materials that were left at the huge bases of the machine. Martha hung back and watched, happy that the Doctor seemed happy for once. Maybe they would even be able to leave soon for some liquid nitrogen ice cream.

"Hello, there."

Martha turned. An older man was staring at her. He had the unmistakable look of a professor at this school, with white flyaway hair standing up in an impossible manner and thick glasses containing hugely magnified eyes that stared at her mournfully.

"Hi," Martha responded. The old man continued to stare at her, just standing in the middle of the sidewalk outside the Van de Graaff generator. She frowned, concerned for his sanity and well-being. "I'm Martha, what's your name?"

"I am Professor Lee," the old man said. He nodded feebly toward the Doctor and Dr. Van de Graaff.. "Are you that man's assistant?"

Martha scowled inwardly but responded civilly. "Yes, I am."

"How interesting," Professor Lee said, and he shuffled past.

Martha watched him go. She'd had some interesting characters for professors herself, but that was about as absentminded as she'd ever encountered.

"Martha?"

Martha looked over at the Doctor, who, to her surprise, was standing very near her. She hadn't heard or seen him approach. She looked over to where the old man had been, but he was gone. Her eyebrows drew together in confusion.

"You all right?" the Doctor asked, watching her.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine," Martha said, turning her gaze back to him. "I just met another professor."

The Doctor whipped his glasses off and stowed them, winking. "Don't go meeting too many of those, now."

Martha pushed him, laughing.

Dr. Van de Graaff joined them, still looking weary. The Doctor said, "That's a very fine machine you've built, doctor."

"It's not working," Van de Graaff said bluntly.

"Well, it's not finished yet, right?" the Doctor said. "Wait a minute, do you mean the first sphere should be working alone?"

"Yes, " Van de Graaff confirmed. "It's been making an odd sound. I've delayed the date of the completion until I can figure it out."

"What's it supposed to sound like?" the Doctor asked.

"A loud humming," Van de Graaff said. "But it's screeching instead. I can't figure it out."

"There's a little laboratory inside the dome up there, right?" the Doctor asked. Van de Graaff nodded. "Could I take a look?"

Van de Graaff shook his head. "I'm sorry, but the only people allowed up there are members of the research team."

"Aww, not even visitors from across the ocean?" the Doctor tried.

"No, sorry," Van de Graaff said adamantly. Then, "If you'll excuse me, I should get back to work now. It's been a pleasure talking to you, Dr. Smith."

"Pleasure's all mine, Dr. Van de Graaff," the Doctor said as the other genius left the Doctor and Martha alone outside the construction zone. He turned to Martha and took her by the shoulders. "We just met Dr. Van de Graaff."

"I know, Doctor," Martha said, smiling.

"Sorry," the Doctor said, getting a hold of himself. "He's one of my favorite Earth scientists ever. It's a big checkmark on my list of people to meet. Not as pleasant a fellow as I'd hoped, though."

"Seems like he's having an off day," Martha offered.

"Could be, could be…" the Doctor said mildly.

"Hello, there."

The Doctor and Martha whirled. Professor Lee was standing not a metre away from them, his head tilted to one side as he regarded the two of them.

"Hello!" the Doctor said brightly.

"Hello," the old man said again. The Doctor and Martha exchanged a look.

"Doctor," Martha said tentatively, "This is Professor Lee. Professor Lee, this is Dr. John Smith."

"Yes, of course he is," Lee said. "What a curious name."

The Doctor stared at the strange old man for a moment before clearing his throat. "It's been a pleasure meeting you, Professor Lee."

Lee muttered something unintelligible and shuffled off in the other direction.

"Well," the Doctor said, scratching his head and taking in a deep breath, "I don't know about you, but I'm thinking we should follow that guy."

"Yeah, me too," Martha grinned, and they set off.


	3. Giving Up

**A/N: Thanks go to my beta Yssy as always. Enjoy and review! **

**4. Giving up**

The Doctor and Martha walked in the direction the old professor had gone, treading through the mud of construction work and starting to sweat in their jackets as the sun rose higher in the sky. Martha sighed—her shoes were ruined and the Doctor's pale Converses weren't faring any better. Sighing again, Martha tucked a stray piece of hair, which was plastered to her face by sweat, behind her ear before speaking to the Doctor.

"Doctor?".

"Yes?"

"Have you **any** idea where Professor Lee went?"

"Well," the Doctor said in that particular way of his that implied he was about to make up most of what he said next, "I know he went this way. And I know that little old professors can't go very far, very quickly."

"Really? But aren't you a little old professor, too?" Martha joked.

The Doctor was quiet for a moment. "Well, yes," the Doctor said. "I'm hardly little, though."

Martha raised her eyebrows and chose to ignore his last statement. "Fine, but I still don't know where we are or where Lee is."

"How would you? You've never been here before," the Doctor said cheekily.

Martha rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean."

"Fine, I don't know where Lee went," the Doctor finally admitted, and Martha felt a mild thrill of victory. "I do know where we are, though. Future site of more lab buildings." He grinned at her "We're still technically on campus, but we're away from all the secret tunnels and other things he could have escaped in."

"Secret tunnels?" Martha asked.

"Oh, yeah," the Doctor said. "Students here don't have to see the sun for the entire school year. There are tunnels everywhere. Everything about the place being diverse is a lie; they're all white by the end of the year."

Martha chuckled at this, then returned to business. "Are you sure he couldn't have gone into one of these tunnels? Or something? It's like he was there one minute and gone the next. He's disappeared twice on me."

The Doctor stopped walking and turned around, rubbing the back of his neck. "I suppose that's why they're called 'secret tunnels', then. But they're not actually secret, there's a map and everything for anyone to use. What do you call tunnels when they're not secret? Un-secret tunnels? Non-secret? Secret-less?"

"Doctor!" Martha interrupted his speech. "We lost him!"

"Yes, we did." The Doctor took a deep breath. "Nothing keeping us here, then. Let's head back to the TARDIS."

"Wait," Martha said, tugging on his sleeve as he turned to go back to the riverfront. "Is that it?"

"Is that what?"

"Are we just leaving an hour after we got here?" Martha clarified.

"Why not?" the Doctor said. "We came, we saw, the universe isn't in danger. Hold on, I thought you wanted to leave straightaway?"

"I do!" Martha said. "It just seems like you're giving up."

"Giving up what?"

Martha could have torn her hair out in frustration. "On Professor Lee, on the noises coming from the Van de Graaff generator, on everything! It's not like you!"

"It isn't?" The Doctor smiled at Martha and continued walking back to the TARDIS. "I don't think you know me very well, Martha Jones."

Martha frowned but followed the Doctor. She shed her jacket in the humid air, holding it over her arm. She still felt uncomfortable leaving before any mysteries could be solved. Whatever the Doctor said, she felt she had a grasp of his character after their time together, and this wasn't like him. Of course, he hadn't been himself lately, especially after their ordeal with the Family of Blood.

Maybe this time and place didn't need the Doctor, unlike everywhere else they went. Maybe Dr. Van de Graaff would fix his machine on his own, and Professor Lee was just a normal absent-minded professor. Maybe this really was a time when the Doctor knew he shouldn't interfere in what was going on around him. It had occurred to Martha how odd it was that every time they stepped out of the TARDIS, they had a life or death adventure. Maybe this time it was an honest mistake of the TARDIS to be there, just a chance for the Doctor to meet one of his favorite scientists.

Martha was mulling over these thoughts as they rounded the last set of neoclassical buildings and saw the long bridge and the river. But after scanning the sidewalk where they had materialized, the two of them stiffened at the same time.

"Doctor, where did the TARDIS go?" Martha asked, voice shaking.

The Doctor ran across the street, causing a minor ruckus with the few cars motoring along it, to the spot where his TARDIS had once stood. Martha followed more carefully and stood a respectful distance away on the sidewalk as she watched the Doctor slowly spiral into one of his rages.

"No, no, no, no, no!" the Doctor shouted. "Where is it? What happened? It was right here. No!"

He looked over the edge of the railing in desperation, then stumbled backward to where Martha was watching. His hair was standing up even more than usual as he ran his hands through it, his eyes wild. "This is bad."

"What are we going to do?" Martha asked softly.

The Doctor marched off to the grand main building once again, and his lack of response was a clear indication as to how upset he was.

Martha sighed and followed. She knew that liquid nitrogen ice cream wasn't going to happen any time soon


End file.
